Warning: longish dear diary post
I have a growing speed addiction. Ever since buying my b8.5 S5, I've been looking to go faster. A couple months ago, I almost pulled the trigger on a w204 C63, but it sold before I made a move. As soon as that fell through, I purchased an IE Stage 1 ECU tune for my Audi.
Sparing some details, when I attempted to flash the tune, a combination of low charger amps and a bad battery caused the flash to fail during the writing phase. This was the beginning of a month-long journey to get it back on the road.
The car wouldn't start. The fan would run randomly. Just about every warning light was on. The car didn't even recognize itself. I was pretty nervous that I had bricked the ECU. Ultimately, a new battery, some software finagling, and lots of help from the tuning company finally got me back up and running.
The difference is incredible. Still digs out of the hole like a rocketship, but now it keeps pulling through the top of the rev range instead of tapering off over 4500 rpms. So glad to be back on the road.
Lessons learned:
- Always make sure you have a good battery before attempting, even if you're using a charger
- Audi battery replacements can be a PITA; mine requires reprogramming the ECU for its electronic management system which either requires a trip to the shop or specialized programming tools
- When you break your car trying to make it go faster, people don't have much sympathy
Edit:
Update: Just flashed IE DSG S-tronic transmission tune to pair with the ECU performance upgrade.
If anyone has tuned engine performance and is on the fence about a transmission tune, I highly recommend it.
- This specific tune has customizable shift points and launch rpms; I settled on 7400 rpm (up from 6000ish) and 3000 rpm respectively for now. It gets to 70 mph at the top of second gear, and it gets there pretty damn fast
- Smoother shifts in auto and manual
- Quicker shifts (for me it's definitely noticeable, but not night/day difference)
Best part was I didn't break my car again
I have a growing speed addiction. Ever since buying my b8.5 S5, I've been looking to go faster. A couple months ago, I almost pulled the trigger on a w204 C63, but it sold before I made a move. As soon as that fell through, I purchased an IE Stage 1 ECU tune for my Audi.
Sparing some details, when I attempted to flash the tune, a combination of low charger amps and a bad battery caused the flash to fail during the writing phase. This was the beginning of a month-long journey to get it back on the road.
The car wouldn't start. The fan would run randomly. Just about every warning light was on. The car didn't even recognize itself. I was pretty nervous that I had bricked the ECU. Ultimately, a new battery, some software finagling, and lots of help from the tuning company finally got me back up and running.
The difference is incredible. Still digs out of the hole like a rocketship, but now it keeps pulling through the top of the rev range instead of tapering off over 4500 rpms. So glad to be back on the road.
Lessons learned:
- Always make sure you have a good battery before attempting, even if you're using a charger
- Audi battery replacements can be a PITA; mine requires reprogramming the ECU for its electronic management system which either requires a trip to the shop or specialized programming tools
- When you break your car trying to make it go faster, people don't have much sympathy
Edit:
Update: Just flashed IE DSG S-tronic transmission tune to pair with the ECU performance upgrade.
If anyone has tuned engine performance and is on the fence about a transmission tune, I highly recommend it.
- This specific tune has customizable shift points and launch rpms; I settled on 7400 rpm (up from 6000ish) and 3000 rpm respectively for now. It gets to 70 mph at the top of second gear, and it gets there pretty damn fast
- Smoother shifts in auto and manual
- Quicker shifts (for me it's definitely noticeable, but not night/day difference)
Best part was I didn't break my car again
